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tv   Wolf  CNN  April 11, 2018 10:00am-11:00am PDT

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>> congressman, appreciate your time. a big challenge for you. appreciate your time. thanks again. thank you for joining us today. hope to see you back here at this time tomorrow. secretary mattis going to the white house. a lot of news to cover. "wolf" starts right now. hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. in washington, 6:00 p.m. in london, 8:00 p.m. in moscow. thank you very much for joining us. get ready, russia, the missiles are coming. that taunting message from the president of the united states, as he teases a military strike for the alleged chemical attack in syria. now russia is responding. plus, as cnn reports, the president may fire his deputy attorney general, the one in charge of robert mueller's investigation. president trump going off on the special counsel, and calling the probe "fake and corrupt." and the republican speaker of the house announces he's done.
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why paul ryan will not seek re-election and what happens to the president and his party from here? all that coming up. let's start with president donald trump lashing out bitterly over russia, the investigation, and the country. on one hand, the president seemed to hit the tipping point with the justice department and the russia investigation. and could be on the cusp of firing any or all of the following, the special counsel robert mueller, the attorney general jeff sessions, and his deputy rod rosenstein. but on the other hand, the president is launching threats directly at russia over syria, saying the missiles are coming. his tweet "get ready, russia, because they will be coming, nice and new, and smart." let's go to our white house reporter. the president taking these swipes at the russia investigation, the democrats, russia on twitter today. all of this unfolding. what are you hearing today,
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right now about the president? what is he thinking? >> reporter: despite the president saying in the past that he wasn't going to telegraph any moves he was going to make with the military, he seems to be doing just that on twitter with that statement saying, get ready, russia, the missiles are coming for syria. that's remarkable, because this was a president who mocked and criticized his predecessor, president barack obama, for showing his hand too much and telegraphing what moves he was going to make, mparticularly ons in the middle east. the president is also intertwining this with the russia investigation. later on, he blamed the bad relations between the u.s. and russia on the special counsel robert mueller. so the president has been all over the place on twitter this morning. but as far as these strikes go, the defense secretary james mattis was asked about that. he said they're still assessing intelligence and stand ready to provide military options to the president. i am told that defense secretary james mattis will be meeting at
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the white house today. it's unclear -- the president seems to be clear on what his next move with syria is right now, wolf. >> what about the new attacks on special counsel robert mueller, who is looking into the whole russia probe? >> reporter: the president has been very vocal this week about robert mueller, calling him out by name specifically on twitter this morning. that comes in light of that din they are the president had with those senior military leaders, where he was supposed to be focusing whoon they ween what t to do with syria. the president saying it was a disgrace and attack on the country. so we're seeing the president's criticism become quite public. something we have not seen in the past, but this is showing us just how much the russia investigation is consuming the president at a time when he is making a very critical decision on syria here, wolf. >> caitlin, thanks. lots going on.
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russia meanwhile responded within minutes of the president, "smart missiles should fly towards terrorists, not the legal government fighting international terrorism for several years on its territory." that's from the russian foreign ministry spokeswoman. let's go to our senior international correspondent fred pleitgen, who is joining us live. fred, how has syria responded to all this heightened rhetoric and all these threats? >> reporter: they certainly seemed any gotten the message. some of the things we're hearing from monitoring groups, the syrian military is moving around some of its assets, including planes being moved away, in anticipation of possible u.s. strikes. we're seeing military convoys in the that is kdamascus area. it seems as though the syrian
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government has heard the president's threats, and have responded calling the rhetoric reckless and something that is a threat to international peace and stability, as they put it. of course, as you noted, the russians have reacted, as well. on the one hand, issuing those counterthreats, saying they will not engage in what they call twitter diplomacy. but the russians have said they will shoot down missiles and that they would target any bases the missiles are fired from. that's possible ships in the mediterranean and u.s. planes, as well. >> a year ago when the u.s. launched nose tomahawk missiles, they were launched from the u.s. navy's 6th fleet. you reported, fred, from syria a number of times over the years. you traveled with russian troops. tell us about the russian presence right now in syria, and how president trump's tweets could have potentially very deadly consequences.
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>> reporter: russia is aware of what the president plans to do. him talking about missiles, but talking about missiles that are smart. of course, possibly telegraphing what kind of weapons the u.s. might use. but wolf, also the russians -- and you're right, i've been here on the ground several times. they have a lot more military hardware and personnel. but in this country and around this country, they have their big airfields with about 50 means on it and they have a port. that's also a russian destroyer in the mediterranean, and then several russian submarines turned up and fired cruise missiles at isis positions. in the past couple of months, the russians deployed at least two of their new fifth generation stealth fighter jets to the air base here in syria. it's unclear if that's for battlefield testing or whether they're combat ready just yet.
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and we also have to keep in mind, they have the newest air defense systems here, as well. the russians have a lot more hardware on the ground, and they also put their newest gear on the ground here in syria, as well. >> fred pleitgen doing terrific reporting for us from inside syria. fred, thank you very much. let's remember that it was almost exactly one year ago that president trump ordered the launch of those tomahawk cruise missiles at syria as a response to a reported chemical attack on civilians in syria. 59 tomahawk missiles to be precise. here with us is william cohen, the former defense secretary under bill clinton. thank you for joining us. what do you think of these warnings, these direct threats on twitter from president trump? >> i have a problem with the medium and the message. the medium being twitter, this is no way to conduct diplomacy or exercising military strategy. to alert the russians and the syrians that you're coming, it
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was good enough when he said, we'll respond. and we'll do that at a time -- he didn't say of our choosing, but the implication is we'll respond. there should be a military component to the response. and it shouldn't be just the united states. this is the danger now by having this twitter exchange, it looks like it's the united states against russia. it's not the u.s. against russia, it's the world community against syria, supported by russia. so we don't want to make it a u.s. standoff against the russians. >> and it's not just russia inside syria, iran has a significant presence there. hezbollah forces from lebanon backed by iran, they have a significant presence there. you shoot a lot of missiles at various military targets in syria, you could kill a lot of various groups. >> indeed. as a matter of fact, we'll have to shoot more missiles than the last time, 59 as you pointed out, because the president, if he's just trying to take out an airfield, we saw that was
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symbolic but not serious. so a serious response is going to be much more than last year. >> he said, get ready, russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and smart. but in the past, he has said, it's a blunder, a mistake to telegraph what the u.s. is going to do militarily. listen to this. >> one of the things i think you've noticed about me is militarily, i don't like to say where i'm going and what i'm doing. i'm not saying i'm doing anything one way or the other. i don't want to telegraph what i'm doing or thinking. i'm not like other administrations where they say, we're going to do this in four weeks. it doesn't work that way. i don't want to be one of these guys that say yes, here's what we're going to do. i don't have to do that. >> and he tweeted back in 2013 when a similar crisis was facing then president obama. he tweeted this about president obama supposedly telegraphing action. why do we keep broadcasting when we are going to attack syria?
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why can't we just be quiet and catch them by surprise. who are the generals allowing this fiasco to happen? call it the plenty of notice war. so why this dramatic change now, when he's doing precisely what he condemned generals and president obama for doing back in 2013? >> i think we have to assume that secretary mattis had no warning of this tweet that was released by the president. i think had he known it was going to take place, he would have tried to dissuade him from doing it. it compromises the mission somewhat. now it's going to be the russians or the u.s. going to back down? rather than carrying out a message saying we're going to take some military action, but we're going any economic sanctions against the russians and syrians and iranians, to hurt them in the bank accounts as well as militarily. but you are ratcheting it up to
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a point where it's going to be my button is bigger that be your button as he said during the confrontation with the north korean president. now you're talking about a president who has the capacity to reach the united states at any time. >> you're talking about president putein? >> i'm talking about putin. we have to tamp it down but still carry out the mission. the seyrians have to be punishe. the russians have blocked every attempt to hold the assad regime responsible for past chemical attacks. >> because they have veto power at the u.n. security council. the russians and syrians are warning against thoughtless escalation. what response would you anticipate from the russians if the u.s. were to launch smart missiles, as the president is now signaling, tomahawk cruise missiles at various military
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targets associated with the bashar al assad regime? >> two problems. number one, can our missiles reach syrian territory and evade the s-400 anti-missile system the russians have deployed. and we have to anticipate how the russians will respond. so i would suspect that secretary mattis is looking at all the contingents here. that's all being discussed or should be discussed today and into the future. >> it's a lot easier to get involved in a military action than to get out of a military action. everybody has learned that over the years. secretary cohen, thank you very much for being with us. coming up, major developments in the russia probe. a source tells cnn the president might fire the deputy attorney general of the united states, rod rosenstein, as his way of getting rid of the special counsel robert mueller as well.
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plus, a power shift in the u.s. congress. the house speaker paul ryan announcing just a little while ago he will not be running for re-election in november. so what is behind the decision? and later, speaking up. former fbi director james comey reportedly comparing president trump to a mob boss in a new interview. we have details. it's ok that everyone ignores me while i drive. it's fine. because i get a safe driving bonus check every six months i'm accident free. and i don't share it with mom! right, mom?
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president trump's effort to rein the russia investigation may have reached a tipping point. multiple sources saying the president is considering firing the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. the president is outraged over the raid of the office and home of his attorney michael cohen and is weighing his options. our cnn legal analyst is joining us. so what happen it is the president does fire rod rosenstein, walk us through what might happen next. >> i've come around to the view that firing rod rosenstein, he
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has become the linchpin holding together the integrity of the special counsel's investigation and insulating it from political process. if he fires him, really that raises the question of who becomes the deputy attorney general? the most likely choice is someone who has already been confirmed by the senate. one possible choice is the acting -- the current solicitor general, noel francisco. so i think the most likely choice is there's somebody who has already been confirmed by the senate, opposed to an outside choice from outside the department. but whoever takes on that role, because attorney general sessions is recused from overseeing the special counsel's investigation, would likely become the deputy attorney general and would take over supervision and oversight of the special counsel's investigation. >> very interesting. the president very furious we're told over the raid that occurred
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on michael cohen's office and home and hotel room in new york. what is the president's behavior suggest to prosecutors? >> his behavior after this particular raid, including his tweets, his public statements, has been consistent regarding his dislike for this investigation throughout the course of the year. and his desire for the investigation to end. so what that raises as far as the question for prosecutors is why? why does the president want this investigation to go away so badly? grant it, one can understand from a political perspective why it would be a distraction for policy objectives. but his singular focus and efforts to go after investigators in terms of his verbal attacks, go after investigators and leaders of the justice department really does call into question, i would think for prosecutors, what it is that he is so concerned about investigators finding. >> and if the president were to fire the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein who oversees this
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whole russia probe, what would that do, if anything, adding to concerns for prosecutors about presidential obstruction of justice? >> sure. so we think, we don't know for fact, but we think that the special counsel is looking at obstruction as one piece of his overall investigation. and mind you, if there is an obstruction case to be made, it would be looking at a pattern of activity, not necessarily one specific act. part of that obstruction is, trying to influence or attempt to influence or obstruct an ongoing proceeding. and with some kind of intent or corrupt intent, corrupt is the word in the statute. and so the question is, would firing rod rosenstein be interpreted by investigators to be another angle of trying to obstruct this overall investigation? if in fact that's his purpose in firing him if he does it.
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>> carrie, thank you very much. coming up, giving his notice. the house speaker paul ryan says he's given the job everything he has and won't be seeking re-election. what could that mean for the republican party going forward? plus, sounding the alarm. a top republican says it would be suicide if the president fired robert mueller. but is the gop doing enough to protect the special counsel? our panel is standing by to weigh in. ♪ when heartburn hits... fight back fast with tums smoothies. it starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue... and neutralizes stomach acid at the source. ♪ tum tum tum tum... smoothies... only from tums
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>> this was really two things. i have accomplished much of what i came here to do, and my kids aren't getting any younger. and if i say, they're only going to know me as a weekend dad. that's something i can't consciously do. that's really it right there. [ inaudible question ] >> to the at all. i'm grateful for the president giving us the opportunity to do big things to get this country on the right track. the fact that he gave us this ability to get all this stuff done makes me proud of the accomplishments i've been a contributor to. >> i want to bring in david chalian. you have been taking a look at the races coming up in november. it looks like there could be a democratic slew of wins. >> right. so we're always assessing the current landscape. with paul ryan's big news announcement this morning, we are making changes to ratings in about seven races, including
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paul ryan's district. by him retiring, wisconsin's first congressional district becomes more competitive for the democrats. in each of these cases, seven races we're now moving a step more competitive for the democrats. take a look at the landscape here of the u.s. house. we have 21 toss-up races. but take a look at the lean and likely republican seats. these lean or likely republican, but they've been moving from solid to that category as the democratic enthusiasm continues to show itself. the democrats only have 11 seats that lean their way or likely their way. much bigger competitive universe in the red and pink seats than in the blue seats. so much of this house battle is fighting out of republican turf. they are on defense, and paul ryan's retirement, along with another retirement that we got today in florida, these are districts now that were likely republican or solidly republican. now they lean republican. they're getting more competitive for the democrats.
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>> usually after the for republ. i would say republicans have faced in more than a decade in american politics. and now the leader of the republicans on capitol hill says he's calling it quits. >> and if the democrats are the majority in the house of representatives, that would have enormous implications for president trump. more news coming up. the speaker by the way will be joining jake tapper later this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. eastern right here on cnn. and this just coming in to cnn,
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new video of the president's long-time attorney michael cohen heading into his apartment in new york, dodging reporters, as we learn new details about an fbi raid at his hotel room and office. there you see the scrum around michael cohen. coming up, president trump's next target, with the future of his deputy attorney general now in serious question, all eyes turn to the special counsel robert mueller, and the president's next move. we'll have details. and the fired fbi chief jim comey reportedly likening the president of the united states to a mob boss. we have details. ew? we just switched to geico and got more. more? they've been saving folks money for over 75 years. a company you can trust. geico even helped us with homeowners insurance. more sounds great. gotta love more... right, honey? yeah!
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the deputy attorney general of the united states, rod rosenstein, is in president
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trump's cross hairs right know, as the president tries to contain the widening russian investigation. sources say the president is considering whether to fire rosenstein, and the white house says the president also believes he has the authority to fire the special counsel robert mueller. let's bring in our panel. we have april ryan, dana bash, and gloria borger. gloria, why target rosenstein right now? what is going on in the president's thinking? >> well, first of all, it's easier than targeting mueller. and secondly, he believes that rosenstein was the person, and he's right about this, who signed off on the raid of his very good friend and attorney, michael cohen. i've been told by a couple of people who have been talking to him about this, that he sees it as an extreme violation of attorney/client privilege, and that he thinks it has nothing to
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do with the russia probe. and we don't know the answer to that. we don't know whether it does or doesn't at this point. and i was told that he thinks it crosses that red line, that he mentioned to "the new york times" months and months ago. so if you put all of this together, he needs somebody to blame. because that's what donald trump does. and he's mad at jeff sessions. and he's mad at rod rosenstein. and i was told by one source that currently today, he's angrier at him than at mueller. >> if he were to fire rod rosenstein, dana, there's been some speculation there would be a new acting deputy attorney general to oversee mueller's probe. and once mueller concludes his probe and presents the report, it would be up to that new person to decide whether to submit it to congress or make it public. it might never see the light of day. >> absolutely. look, there's so if what ifs, which is why there's so much
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unchartered territory here. but also why there is a very, very deep concern about the notion of the president firing rod rosenstein. because he is the one who appointed robert mueller, because he is the one who was in charge of the mueller investigation. question, open question, i was on capitol hill yesterday talking to some of the president's fellow republicans who have a vested interest in this, many of whom think he'll never fire rosenstein, but they also didn't think he was going to fire james comey, who would even be in that job. rachel brand was the number three. she left, in part, because she didn't want to be put in this position, let's be honest. and the other way to answer your question is that senate democrats, at least in the short term, have already begun discussions about ways to make sure that what the work -- that the work mueller and his team have done is preserved in the event of any firing of anybody. and the question is whether they get to that point.
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but they're already thinking about it. >> the white house having dinner tonight with congressional leaders. they will clearly have a decisive hold on all of this down the road. >> yeah. they're not -- particularly republicans who have supporting sessions, they are not happy with all of this going on. and let's be clear, when the president is looking at these changes, this musical chair situation, if you will, at the justice department, it's about trying to find someone loyal to him and his ideology and the fact that he does not want this investigation to continue. there was a chance, there was a time that the president could have fired rosenstein, but he didn't. and now if he does anything, even before congressional action happens, if he does anything, it makes it look more like obstruction of justice or a constitutional crisis, what have you. but tonight, that is definitely on the table, along with other issues. there's so much at stake and on the table, but that is
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definitely -- i would say that's the entree on the table tonight. >> i've also been told by attorneys who are dealing with this, quite honestly, that they want the president to hold his fire, and the reason is, they think they have a very good case to make against rosenstein because he is a material witness in this case, because don't forget, he's the one who wrote the memo firing comey. and so they believe that they can make a case that rosenstein is conflicted, should never have been in that job, and they've already made the case, they think, on capitol hill and elsewhere, that the fbi is completely contaminated. so if you put those two things together, they say the president, you know what? we have a case to make sheer. so we can get this thrown away, so maybe -- or take it to the supreme court. but maybe you just ought to not do a thing. >> you may have a case, but the question is, is it a winning case? there's so much murky water
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here. comey was fired, now you want to fire mueller. what is going on? >> you used a term before, constitutional crisis. that's a very, very real thing. we're all talking understandably about the what ifs in terms of the investigation, who would come next. but if you take a step back, what it would mean for the country would be huge. not exactly analogous to the saturday night massacre during the nixon years, but pretty darn close. and you can't overstate the seismic effect of a firing at this point of any of those characters. >> senator john cornyn, the number two republican leader in the u.s. senate, just said at this dinner that he and some of his colleagues are having with the president tonight, he's not going to bring up this whole issue of the possible firing of rod rosenstein or robert mueller. they're not even going to bring that up, at least he's not going to. >> so there's going to be this elephant -- >> he has to bring some tums.
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>> so there's this elephant there, and there are republicans like chuck grassly, who said yesterday it was political suicide for the president to fire mueller. he wasn't referring to rosenstein, but it was mueller. and i think what would happen in the case of mueller is that republicans would have to take sides. they would have no choice. >> plapril, yesterday at the whe house briefing, you asked a question, this is sarah sanders' answer. it's received a lot of buzz. i'm going to play the clip. >> has the president at any time thought about stepping down before or now? >> no, and i think that's an absolutely ridiculous question. we're moving on. jordan, go ahead. >> it's not ridiculous. >> we heard you say, it's not ridiculous. so what, a, prompted you to ask that question, and what's been the reaction?
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>> what prompted me? we all have sources, we talk to people. and when you have turmoil or conflicts constantly coming up, or making major decisions where people are investigating you, there is always a scenario at the white house where there is plan a, b, c, d, or e. and it's been on the table. the issue is, and it's been on the table from what i'm hearing from my sources, that was one of the possibilities. so i asked that question, in the midst of the fact that the president's personal attorney had his properties raided to get information from a search warrant about what is going on with stormy daniels and others and the trail of money. and this right now is a very tough time for the president. he's kind of backed in a corner. if he does pull the gun on certain things, it looks like he's creating a constitutional krois
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crisis or obstructing justice. those questions asked during the bill clinton impeachment proceedings, you were there, you were there. we've heard of the history of watergate. you know, republicans came to nixon and said hey, either you resign or we go through impeachment proceedings. that is not illogical. it is a real question on the table that a white house does not want to deal with, because they're trying to craft the picture, the winning image, and there is no winning picture at this moment. >> what's been the reaction that you've received since asking that question? >> there are people who support -- i mean, the reason i asked the question was not about democrat or republican. it was not a partisan thing. people have gone into their tribes and some are saying it was a great question. mostly people who do not support this president. and those who support this president are angry. i've been getting death threats and we've been calling the fbi. i put one on social media. and this is real.
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i asked a simple question. i asked a question, i did not point a finger, i asked a question, and now my life is in jeopardy because of a question. but i'm going to continue to do my job. >> i know you are. i hope everything is going to be all right. >> it will be. >> thank you very much for your expertise. i know you've been covering a lot of white houses over the years, and you don't ask a question like that unless you have a reason to believe it's a logical question. thank you very much for joining us. we'll continue our special coverage of the president's reactions and behaich your ovvb. jack quinn is standing by. i'll ask him how all of this might unfold. you wouldn't accept an incomplete job from any one else. why accept it from your allergy pills?
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president trump is said to be seething inside the white house right now, after fbi agents raided the office, home, and hotel room of his long-time personal attorney michael cohen. legal analysts say the move is not ovenly stunning but aggressive. our cnn legal contributor, preet had this prediction. >> i predict, as we saw with paul manafort, if they had enough evidence to engage in a very aggressive move, that the likelihood that michael cohen is going to be charged is high. >> let's talk about this and more with that prediction with the attorney jack quinn. jack served as white house counsel under president bill clinton, a long-time washington
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lawy lawyer. thank you very much for joining us. you agree with preet? >> absolutely. >> why do you say that? why do you think that this raid suggests there will be potentially criminal charges? >> as you indicated, it is rare that you conduct a search of an attorney's office. that does not happen every day of the week. it's highly unusual. it has to be done with the approval of a chain of people in the justice department, and importantly, a judge has to find that there's probable cause to believe that a crime has been or is being committed, and that evidence of that crime will be found at the place where the fbi and the prosecutors want to search. so they made a good showing, not to one person, but to a whole line of people here. so there is a very high reason,
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a so there is a great reason to believe that they made a sufficient showing that a crime has been committed. >> a crime was committed by whom? >> not sure. but they have to show that a crime would be found within the residence they identified. >> would he be considered, in your analysis, a witness, a subject or a target of this investigation? >> i think he is at least a subject. >> because a subject may or not eventually be charged but a target almost always is. >> in the case of a suspect, there's a suspicion he's involved in criminal wrong doing or he may be involved. if he is a target, the word means just what it sounds like it means. they are aiming for him. they mean to bring him down. they mean to prosecute him. i think that there's a very high likelihood here that the raid
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was conducted because of a belief that cohen engaged in or has been -- or is continuing to engage in criminal activity which should be prosecuted. >> let. he get your reaction to this tweet that the president posted earlier today. and he blamed basically the tensions with russia right now on this investigation. "much of the bad blood with russia is caused by the fake and corrupt russia investigation headed up by the all-democrat loyalists or people that worked for obama. mueller is most conflicted of all, september rosenstein who signed fisa and comey letter, no collusion so they go crazy." what's your reaction when the president of the united states levels these charges at individuals. >> i think it's bizarre. the prosecutors for the most part happen to be republicans, although that's not relevant. their political affiliation doesn't matter a darn. but additionally, you remind me in reading that of the president in the oval office talking to
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the russians about how relieving james comey of his job was going to get rid of this investigation. how did that work out for the president? now firing people may be within his power, may not be within his power, but firing people, getting rid of them, starving the budget of the prosecutors, he can do these things. he can interfere with it. he can attempt to obstruct it but the investigation will not go away because the case, whatever it may be, is there. the case is not going anywhere, the investigation will not go anywhere. it will continue, as with the firing of james comey, firing any of these people will not work out for the president. and, indeed, is manifestly contrary to his best interest. this is not the behavior of an innocent man. >> axios is reporting in this abc interview with george stephanopoulos, the president of
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the united states -- james comey compared the president of the united states as being sort of like a mob boss. he used the words "a mob boss." your reaction? >> i don't want to characterize the president in that way. he is clearly a subject of this investigation. i think that the prosecutors have reason to consider him a subject of this investigation and we'll see where it goes. but he's digging the hole deeper with these kind of comments that he made this morning and with his refusal to cooperate. related to this is the whole question whether he will cooperate, l he'll subject himself to an interview. again, the resistance to doing that is not the action of an innocent man, and at the end of the day, he can't avoid it.
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he can refuse but the only way he's going to not testify is by invoking the fifth amendment. that will happen after he's served with a subpoena to compel his testimony and he is simply putting himself in a terrible light in the manner in which he's handling this. >> jack quinn, thanks very much for coming in. >> thank you. >> lots to assess. we'll move forward. coming up, by the way, round two for mark zuckerberg. the facebook ceo continues his mea culpa, makes a surprising admission about the company's data scandal. together, guaranteed to produce three times the harvest. more to enjoy... to share. three times the harvest. one powerful guarantee. miracle-gro. we know that when you're >> tspending time with thelass grandkids... ♪ music >> tech: ...every minute counts. and you don't have time for a cracked windshield.
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if you'd have told me three years ago... that we'd be downloading in seconds, what used to take... minutes. that guests would compliment our wifi. that we could video conference... and do it like that. (snaps) if you'd have told me that i could afford... a gig-speed. a gig-speed network.
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it's like 20 times faster than what most people have. i'd of said... i'd of said you're dreaming. dreaming! definitely dreaming. then again, dreaming is how i got this far. now more businesses in more places can afford to dream gig. comcast, building america's largest gig-speed network. right now mark zuckerberg entering his fifth hour of answering questions. earlier the facebook revealed his personal information was shared in the data scandal and was taken to task over his company's handling of user data.
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>> will you make the commitment to changing all the user default settings to minimize the greatest extent possible the collection and use of users' data? i don't think that's hard for you to say yes to unless i'm missing something. >>congressman, this is a complex issue than i think deserves more than a one-word answer. >> again, that's disappointing to me. >> why should we trust you to follow through on these promises when you have demonstrated repeatedly that you're willing to flout your own internal policies and government oversight when the need suits you. >> congressman, respectfully, i disagree with that characterization. we've had a review process for apps for years, we review tens of thousands apps a year.
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>> and data included in or out of russia or does it include facebook's global data. >> in general countries do not have any jurisdiction to request data from someone outside of their country. >> where is it stored? >> we don't store any data in russia. >> much more on this story coming up throughout the day here on cnn. that's it for me. in the meantime, the news continues right now. hi, everyone. i'm brooke baldwin. it's wildly known the president loves chaos and loves causing a stir. well hereby got it, legally, politically and now globally. just for some perspective, well before the business day started on the east coast today, the president taunted russia and syria, telling them to get ready for